A Left Turn for Draco
by Sparky She-Demon
Summary: **This is for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition** Draco is on vacation in the American Southwest hunting for rare potions ingredients. What else does he find?
**A/N: I used the prompts: unpleasant, "If you don't eat your vegetables you can't have any pudding", and inappropriate. My favorite death eater is Draco, so I took him on vacation to the American wizarding world in the southwest. This is my first time trying to write Draco Malfoy, so please be kind. Thank you PrisonerofAzkaban711 for beta reading it! Enjoy the story! SSD**

* * *

Looking around, it seemed to be peaceful. After the horror he'd gone through as the youngest Death Eater, Draco Malfoy was more than glad to be on vacation. He was in the American West, having left as soon as he was able to. Since he had been under seventeen when he'd been Marked, Draco had mostly been left off the hook, except for a fine.

Upon his arrival in the US, Draco had noticed several differences between the magical world he was accustomed to, and the magical world over here. Even though he had barely interacted with them back in England, there were actual fines for interacting with Muggles or "No-Majs" as they were referred to over here. The penalties for interacting with them were said to be… _unpleasant_.

Draco had no desire to have any run ins with magical law enforcement. He just wanted to sit back, relax, and enjoy his vacation.

###

He was eating in a restaurant in Albuquerque New Mexico's equivalent of Diagon Alley. The food here was spicier than what he was used to, but he was learning to like it.

Except for these green vegetables that were called peppers, so Draco was going out of his way to avoid eating them. The texture was positively abominable.

As he gazed at his surroundings, an old witch who reminded him somewhat of Madame Pomfrey, said to him in a singsong tone, _"If you don't eat your vegetables, you can't have any pudding."_

Draco ignored her and reached for his chocolate rocky road pudding. It slipped out of his grasp.

He looked up and saw that the old witch, smiling slightly. Draco reached for it once more. Yet again, it slipped out of his fingers.

Rolling his eyes, Draco shoveled the green peppers into his mouth, giving the old woman a filthy look all the while.

"Was that so hard young man? You act as if green peppers are inappropriate!"

"They are not fit for human consumption," Draco growled as he went back to his pudding which did not move away from him this time.

Draco closed his eyes as the chocolate hit his taste buds. Glorious.

"Don't forget to take a left turn, young man. It will get you where you want to be!" The old woman apparated out.

Draco rolled his eyes, and went on his way. The last thing he needed was an old lady's strange behavior to rain on his parade.

###

Draco's trip in the southwest United States went on. Here, signs of magic were more pronounced than in the other parts of the country that he had visited. Also out in the west, there were ingredients for potions. The yucca plant was among the selection that Draco was looking for.

Also in demand for potion makers were obsidian daggers. They were the best for cutting up the harder ingredients. But some were much rarer. The Peebles Navajo Cactus and Brady's Pincushion Cactus only grew in some very specific areas. The Peebles only grew in two small areas in Arizona. The second one only grew in an area of a little less than 30 miles along the Colorado River.

He would be apparating all over Arizona just to get everything needed.

###

A few days later, Draco was back in Albuquerque eating at that same little café. This time he was trying this spicy sausage called choritzo. He was eating it in a dish called Queso Fundito.

"Did you take that turn, young man?"

Draco looked up. It was that same old woman.

"I took a lot of left turns while I was away. Nothing of importance, old woman!" Draco snarled back. Was it too difficult to eat in peace around here?

"You will find what you seek when you take the left turn."

Before Draco could say another word, the old woman disapparated. Rolling his eyes, Draco thought, _"I am never returning to this place. I do not care how good the food is!"_

###

After finishing his blissfully quiet meal after that strange woman left, Draco got up and paid with his Dragots.

Upon leaving the restaurant, he turned, running into someone. "Apologies." He murmured before picking up her books, of which there were at least seven.

" _Looks like I just ran into, quite literally, the American Hermione Granger,"_ Draco thought to himself.

"Thank you," the young woman replied shyly before heading back into the café.

" _So she's a witch. The least I could do is buy her a drink after knocking her books out her hands."_

###

Over the next several days, Draco kept on meeting, Helen Sanderson (who he now could tell was more than a match for Granger on the brains department) she had just graduated from the Salem Witches Institute and was here studying the local Native American Runes. They would get there around 6 PM local time, and would have to be thrown out by the café owners come closing time.

Draco was still apparating all over the southwest, looking for all the potions ingredients. But he kept on finding excuses to return to the café and Helen would generally be there as well, reading a book.

Over the course of their chats, Draco had learned more about wizarding history in the US. There were worse things than death eaters and Voldemort that American witches and wizards had dealt with: Scourers. Which were wizards that hunted down their own kind for money and tortured them.

On his last day before taking a portkey back to England, Draco asked, "Are you interested in visiting England? There's runes over there as well."

Helen gave him a look, which had him backpedaling a bit saying, "I'm not asking you to marry me or anything, but after the past 2 months, I certainly would like to at least give it a shot." Draco crossed his fingers under the table.

The dark haired witch gave him a smile and said, "I'll think about it."

* * *

 **A/N 2: Well, this is my first attempt at writing Draco. Hope it went over well.**


End file.
